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09/06/2017

From time to time I post a guest blog to inform my readers of important developments in the workplace. Today’s blog is an important one because the workplace environment can be a pleasing place or one that is unsatisfying depending on the way bosses treat their employees. Workers might feel valued or worthless depending on the tone set by the boss. Dr. Michelle Joy and Dr. Jody Foster share their views by examining the behavior of female bosses.

A bad boss can make the workplace miserable. And sometimes this person is a woman. Given how much time people spend in this office, life itself can become wretched. You start to feel angry, humiliated, anxious, and depressed. You tell your coworkers just how bad this supervisor is, how she treats you, how she makes you feel. She really is a “jerk,” you claim, “a b**ch” you all agree. You consider doing something about it but take no steps. You hope that she stops acting this way and that everything can just get better on its own.

But of course she doesn’t stop. She keeps yelling at you, keeping you late, making you redo reports. She criticizes your work. She criticizes you. You start to realize change is unlikely. You try to do everything you can do to avoid a blowout, but nothing works. Your job becomes a prison where each day is spent thinking about how much you hate your boss – feeling terrible and without any results. Dreading each interaction…

There are two steps on the path forward. Both may seem difficult but are surprisingly simple:

1. Acknowledge what you might be bringing to the table and why your boss’ behavior bothers you so much. Because even if you have found solace in group gossip about your manager, chances are there are some reasons why you are so personally frustrated by this person. Does she remind you of someone else in life? Can you absolutely not tolerate criticism? What is it about you that makes her seem so bad? As intolerable as she seems, and as little as you want to do this, you may be surprised at what answers arise.

2. Empathize. The complementary approach – one that can be incredibly hard to come to terms with – is to empathize with your boss. Why on earth would we suggest finding an empathic spot for this person when it’s quite literally the last thing you want to do? Because if you must find a way to get along, you’ll need to take the long view and try to understand why she acts in this particular way. In allowing yourself to empathize with your boss, you also give space for some of the negativity to fade away. In understanding her and yourself, a desire to learn and to grow can start to replace the bottled-up disdain spilling into every part of your day.

We’ve consulted with a number of employees over the years who have had significant problems working for female bosses. Most were women, though some were also men. In all situations, we asked the workers to ask why they seemed to be so rattled by women in positions of authority. Why do they feel so minimized and humiliated when, for example, they were scolded or criticized? These are all issues that an employee brings to the table and must evaluate. Perhaps the same boss wouldn’t bother another colleague quite as much. We try to help people understand that it’s their responsibilities to look inward for answers to these questions.

At the same time, consulting employees often find themselves wondering whether the women who achieve high rank are in some way meaner or more difficult. And why they would act this way toward them when, as fellow women, they should presumably want to support one another. So we ask them to empathize and think about what be driving her boss to be so dismissive of her feelings. What does she know about her? What is the office like for her boss? What was her path to promotion? What in this story might have caused her to behave so distastefully? Most importantly, we try to frame what internal struggles the boss might be dealing with that cause her behavior.

Perhaps a micromanaging boss is so incredibly afraid of losing control that she needs to discipline everyone around her to feel more secure. Maybe her whole life has spent trying to be “perfect” in order to please others and she takes these insecurities out on those around her. Perhaps a seemingly arrogant boss only flies off the handle when she herself feels exposed or humiliated. She is afraid the world might discover that her big job is just a mask covering her cripplingly low self-esteem, and she constantly fears discovery of what she feels is her fraudulent, inadequate self.

In trying to understand the boss’s underlying anxiety, an employee can interact in ways that help keep the supervisor’s fear at bay:

Find little ways to show the boss she’s in control if she needs to be.

If the boss has fragile self-esteem, show her value by acknowledging her positives when opportunities arise.

If a disorganized boss can’t finish anything and slows everyone else down, learn to interact with her in bite-sized tasks and complete them one at a time.

The hardest part is acknowledging our own roles – and capabilities – in making the workplace more comfortable. In accepting the task of learning about ourselves and our bosses, we can do just that. People want to tell you about themselves and will do so all the time; they want to be heard. Just look and listen with the intent to understand. It works every time.

Dr. Michelle Joy and Dr. Jody Foster are the authors of The Schmuck in My Office: How to Deal Effectively with Difficult People at Work. For more information, please visit, www.schmuckinmyoffice.com.

08/02/2017

From time to time I publish a guest post and believe this one will be of interest to young adults and Millennials entering the workforce, especially in the technology field. The piece was provided by Robert Lovell of PayScale.

PayScale, the online compensation and benefits analysts, recently carried out a study into levels of reported job satisfaction for employees at 17 of the world’s leading tech companies.

As part of the research project, feedback to survey questions gathered from nearly 35,000 staff – representing such global giants as Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Tesla, Hewlett Packard and IBM – was compiled into a series of infographics. The resulting charted data is shown below.

Overall, it appears to show that tech employees are typically relatively satisfied (and relatively well paid) at both early and mid-career stages. However, there also seems to be a fairly linear decline in reported levels of overall job satisfaction at those companies whose workforces tend to be older and more experienced on average.

The question is, does this constitute further evidence of the alleged youth bias that has dogged the tech industry in recent years? As ever with these sorts of studies, apparent emerging trends can be interpreted in numerous ways: it could equally be suggested, for example, that the results merely reflect the inherent optimism of recent recruits to any industry, as compared with their more seasoned colleagues.

Either way, with today’s graduates increasingly jostling to take up positions with these sorts of firms worldwide, it’s certainly an issue worthy of further discussion. For more information on exactly how the data was gathered and compiled – and, of course, what it might all mean – you can view the full details of Payscale’s sampling process in the published methodology here.

05/19/2017

I have previously blogged about millennials and their workplace needs. This blog updates an earlier one and discussed information provided by Loyalty Works.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has been around a long time. It describes the basic needs of individuals to be happy and fulfilled in life. Loyalty Works describes the expectations of millennials from their work experience.

Millennials are like no generation before them. They look to meet their own needs first before contributing to meeting those of an employer. Indeed, they are not likely to stay with a job unless their basic needs are met and self-actualization is nourished.

We assume the basic needs are met in most job experiences. Maslow’s hierarchy holds that physiological needs are the foundation for all other needs. This means the need for food, water, and shelter are basic to sustain life. Safety and security come next. The employment experience must provide a sufficient income and cover basic health needs for employees to achieve higher levels of satisfaction.

It is important to point out, unlike previous generations, the pursuit of wealth is not the driving force in the workplace. Instead, Millennials look for fulfilling experiences, opportunities for growth and development, satisfying work-team engagement, and a social networking environment that enhances the work experience.

Millennials spend more time at work than previous generations, in part because of the social aspect of jobs and the workplace. Working closely in teams draws Millennials closer together. Social ties lead to emotional experiences and the opportunity to build relationships. They inform personal experiences and contribute to a satisfying work experience.

Millennials are more likely to meet their mate at work than previous generations, and they are open to workplace dating experiences. Employers need to support Millennials’ need for a sense of connection from work. This is essential to climbing the ladder to the next level of needs.

Millennials do not see the potential red flags of having personal relationships in the workplace. They do not stop and think that one participant or another may evaluate job performance of the other down the road. What happens if the dating relationship goes south? Well, Millennials do not think that far in advance because they live in the here and now.

The top two levels of the ladder are the trickiest. Unless the three basic needs are met first, Millennials are not likely to achieve self-esteem from the job. They need to be respected by their peers, gain confidence on the job, and achieve success as they know it. Employers should target meeting these needs to have satisfied employees. If they are not met, then Millennials may leave their job and go on to another employer that might satisfy these higher-level needs.

Unlike previous generations, Millennials do not feel a loyalty to their employer above all else. Their loyalty is to themselves and satisfying their own needs from their workplace experiences. They are more likely to become loyal to their employer if their own needs are met first.

Millennials are fueled by passion for whatever they do. They are driven at work by passion for social causes – i.e., sustainability. They believe in what they do and want to work with like-minded individuals.

They thirst for a sense of belonging from their work experiences. A fulfilling a work experience fosters self-esteem and creates a pathway to self-actualization.

Maslow’s Hierarchy should be ingrained in the work culture. Employers must realize that Millennials are a different breed than previous generations. They have grown up with the Internet providing their window to the world. They expect the workplace experience to be engaging and provide time for social networking.

Millennials place purpose ahead of profits. They value social entrepreneurship. They ask: What does the employer stand for? What is their purpose in meeting the needs of stakeholders? How can this contribute to my need for meaning and maximizing my inner potential? These are questions Millennials ask before determining whether self-actualization is a realistic expectation from the job.

Blog posted by Steven Mintz, aka Ethics Sage, on May 19, 2017. Sign up for my Newsletter and take the Ethics IQ Test.